Cablegate: Delivering a Dose of Reality to Dostum's Defenders

VZCZCXRO8239
RR RUEHPW
DE RUEHBUL #1320 1531136
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 011136Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4160
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL

UNCLAS KABUL 001320

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/FO, SCA/A
STATE PASS TO USAID FOR AID/ANE, AID/DCHA/DG
NSC FOR WOOD
OSD FOR SHIVERS
CENTCOM FOR CG CJTF-101 POLAD

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV AF
SUBJECT: DELIVERING A DOSE OF REALITY TO DOSTUM'S DEFENDERS

REF: A. KABUL 303 B. KABUL 497

1. (SBU) The Ambassador told a delegation of General
Dostum's parliamentary defenders May 22 that the USG would
not intervene with the government on behalf of the Uzbek
warlord. Dostum's only recourse is to surrender himself
immediately to the attorney general and submit to the legal
system. The MPs should think carefully about what it means
for them to be advocating concessions because they feared
violence from Dostum's supporters. What kind of
Afghanistan did they want?

2. (SBU) Lower house MP Faizullah Zaki (Uzbek, Jawzjan) and
Dostum's brother, upper house Senator Abdul Qader Dostum
(Uzbek, Jawzjan), led the group of 15 northern province
National Assembly members. In addition to the fate of
their beleaguered patron, they registered concern over
rising food prices and shortages, which have been
exacerbated in the north by late and insufficient seasonal
rains.

3. (SBU) As the delegation departed the Embassy, MPs Shakar
Kargar (Uzbek, Faryab) and Rahman Oghly (Uzbek, Faryab)
complained Zaki had presented a false picture of universal
support for Dostum among the north's Uzbeks. Kargar and
Oghly's effort to distance themselves from the general may
be indicative of the split between loyalists and
modernizers among the predominantly Uzbek Junbesh party.
The party's June conference and its leadership elections
will be an opportunity to break definitively with Dostum.

WOOD

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